Venezuela really believes in its Petro stablecoin. Despite not having a stable economy upon which to build its national cryptocurrency, it is working diligently to have Petro seen as a viable cryptocurrency – although most indications are that it will never truly get off the ground. To help it in its cause, the South American nation is now preparing to turn to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for support.

The Venezuelan media out TeleSur indicates that Venezuela wants OPEC to see the Petro as a unit of account for petroleum and oil. The country’s Minister for Petroleum, and president of the state-run oil company (Petroleo de Venezuela, SA), Manuel Quevado, stated, “We will use Petro in OPEC as a solid and reliable currency to market our crude in the world… We are going for growth and economic prosperity of our country giving a hand to the future since the Petro is a currency that is backed by mineral resources.”

Quevado also asserted that the Petro is a major part of the economic recovery plan of Venezuela and that all products derived from crude oil will need to be commercialized in Petro. “We are going to the growth and economic prosperity of our country giving a hand to the future since Petro is a currency that is backed by mineral resources,” he explained.

It’s hard to imagine the Petro being a legitimate solution. Venezuela is bankrupt due to the actions of one man, the “elected” president, Nicolas Maduro. If he manages the Petro space the way he did the country’s economy, there isn’t much hope for recovery.

The Petro is being criticized by opponents in Venezuela, as well as international groups. The majority of the citizens have begun to turn to other cryptocurrency offerings, such as Bitcoin Core, Bitcoin BCH and Dash, because they don’t trust the Petro, either. In fact, according to some studies, Petro is a mirror image of Dash, meaning the country couldn’t even be bothered to introduce its own alternative; it had to copy something else.

The Petro officially went on sale at the beginning of November. It is available on six different exchanges, all of which were authorized by Maduro. According to Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings, Petro is a “worthless token.”

The Brookings Institution agrees. It asserts, “[It] is relatively unsurprising that a dictatorship with little reserve currency … has resorted to a deceitful means like introducing the petro … The petro … exists to create foreign currency reserves from thin air.”

Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.

The Venezuelan Petro has officially launched this week, after being made available for fiat and crypto purchases for the first time.

According to an announced posted on Twitter earlier this week by the Venezuelan Economy Department, the Petro can be bought directly from the national treasury, or from one of the six authorised crypto exchanges given permission to sell the token.

Verified individuals and organisations will be invited to purchase Petro for fiat or in certain cryptocurrencies, as explained in an infographic accompanying the announcement on Twitter, which suggests fiat support for Euro, Yuan and U.S. Dollar transactions. The coin is also available to be purchased in BTC.

The Petro has had a choppy ride since it was first announced back in 2017, attracting heavy controversy from within Venezuela, as well as condemnation from the international community.

Backed by national oil reserves, the currency is deemed by some in Venezuela to be unconstitutional, as well as being a currency specifically designed for use in evading international sanctions against the country.

Besieged by technical problems, and amid suggestions that the currency might not even exist, the country’s president Nicolas Maduro has been quoted in often contradictory statements on the development of the currency, how it will work in practice, and the timeframes for launch.

Even as recently as this month, Maduro had said the currency would be launching on November 5—after more than 11 months in the planning and development, it now looks as if the project has finished ahead of this latest, revised schedule.

Numerous claims and outlandish promises around the Petro have done little to dampen protests in Venezuela, where opposition politicians view the project as an unconstitutional exploitation of Venezuela’s natural resources.

The ultra-socialist regime has also drawn the ire of the U.S. over the Petro, which will continue to have a negative effect on the already dismal relations between the two countries.

While cash-strapped Maduro is still banking on a Petro payday, the launch has been calamitous. It remains to be seen if the Petro’s fortunes improve now the currency is finally reported to be in circulation.

Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.

In early October, Coingeek reported that the Venezuelan government planned to roll out its national cryptocurrency, the Petro, on November 5. And as the date draws near, the Venezuelan government has been ramping up its efforts to ensure that the controversial state-backed crypto coin’s launch will go off without a hitch.

This week, the government through its website announced that it has issued authorization to six website s to sell the Petro. According to Noticiero Digital, it had been announced initially that the launch would be done via 16 websites. Of this number, the first batch of six crypto exchanges have been approved to test the waters, so to speak. These exchanges are Cave Blockchain, Bancar exchange, Cryptia exchange, Amberes Coin, Afx Trade, and Criptolago. Some of these websites have already began marketing the Petro to promote the digital coin, the report stated.

On its website, Amberes moved to describe itself as a cryptocurrency exchange authorized by the Venezuela state for the purchase and sale of Petro, alongside other digital assets that are allowed in the country. Meanwhile, Afx Trade explained that it is a regulated cryptocurrency exchange platform in Venezuela for buying, selling, and safeguarding “digital assets inside and outside the national territory.”

It’s worth noting, however, that some of the approved exchanges were found to lack a good trading volume despite having multiple trading pairs. For instance on Cryptia’s website, three digital tokens—ETH, DASH, and XRP, are listed for trading against the BTC; however, they have no trading volumes. The website also urges its users to “buy and sell petros” via the Cryptia platform.

In a new white paper released ahead of Petro’s initial coin offering (ICO), the Venezuela government noted that the coin will be backed primarily by oil. Funding from Venezuela’s oil will account for 50%, while gold and iron will back 20% each. The remaining 10% is expected to come from diamond. There were allegations, however, that the white paper issued to support the Petro was an imitation of DASH’s white paper.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said workers in the country would be receiving bonus payments based on Petro—instead of the Sovereign Bolivar—“in the coming weeks,” saying, “…if you think about the future, think about saving (…) think about the gold and Petro savings plan.”

Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.

Starting this week, residents in Venezuela can only use Petro—the state-backed cryptocurrency—to pay for their passport fees. This was the announcement made by Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, last Oct. 5.

New passport applications will cost two Petros, or about 7,200 bolivars ($115), while an extension will cost one Petro. This might seem a reasonable amount to those in the European Union or in the United States, but 7,200 bolivars is about four times higher than the average monthly minimum wage in Venezuela.

For Venezuelans who are abroad, Rodriguez said their passports will cost $200 for issuance and $100 for extensions, El Universal reported.

The announcement comes a month ahead of Petro’s official launch date in November.

The Venezuelan government has made various changes since the beginning of this year, among them is introducing state cryptocurrency and changing the national currency. All these efforts are aimed at trying to redeem the country’s economy. Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, introduced the petro, which according to its whitepaper is supposed to be backed by the country’s oil reserves. Since its introduction, the Petro has faced many criticisms from different fronts.

Fran Strajnar, CEO and co-founder of data and research company Brave New Coin, opined, “It’s not a bad idea to kick-start adoption. In fact, it’s a nice contrast to other countries, where you cannot use crypto to pay for government services and taxes. However, we are yet to see adoption of this currency and we wonder how difficult it might be, for everyday citizens to procure the currency in the first place.”

President Maduro plans to have a public launch on November 5, 2018. Petro had its presale back in February.

Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced that the country will officially launch the state-backed Petro in November, after the Parliament passed a decree on the nation’s official oil-backed crypto coin. Maduro made the announcement during an appearance on National Television, and a summary of the president’s speech was posted on the government website last Oct. 1.

An official website for the crypto has already been launched. In addition, the official Petro Wallet is also available on Google Play, with the official public launch of the currency expected to take place November 5.

Maduro stated in his announcement that Petro will become available on six major crypto exchanges as of last Monday. However, he failed to specify which ones will offer the state-backed cryptocurrency. According to CoinMarketCap, it has not been listed by largest traders such as Binance, OKEx and Huobi by the time of going to press.

Henceforth, all the oil purchases into and out of Venezuela will have to be done through Petro. The impact of this move will ripple across a myriad of the nation’s sectors. The airlines industry, for instance, will have to shift its operations into using cryptocurrency. This stipulation also relates to international airlines whose routes lie through local airports, since fuel for aircrafts will also be sold with Petro.

Petro’s new white paper states that the currency is backed 50 percent by oil, 20 percent by gold, 20 percent by iron, and 10 percent by diamond assets.

Meanwhile, the reconversion has been criticized by a number of financial experts, with economist Maxim Ross claiming that the measure “does not solve anything,” Local 10 News reported in March.

CoinGeek reported that economist Angel Alvarado, an opposition legislator and Petro critic, opposed the decision, stating that the new measure will end up increasing inflation rather than putting it to an end. Alvarado claims that taking a few zeros from the old currency is not what Venezuela needs to get back on track financially.

Recently, the Venezuelan government has initiated a number of social projects funded by the Petro. In July, the Ministry of Habitat and Housing revealed plans to initiate a housing construction program for the homeless, funded by the Petro. In May, Maduro announced the launch of a Petro-funded crypto bank to support youth and student initiatives.

Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.